“Barely out of his boyhood, often scared and sometimes blindly heroic, he fought and conquered - and created the image of the modern Marine Corps. On his head rests a helmet covered with camouflaged cloth; his light green cotton dungarees with the USMC black eagle, globe and anchor on their left pocket are stained and often bloody; his M1 is scratched but clean; his leggings (if he still has them) cover soft brown work shoes; around his waist hangs a cartridge belt carrying two canteens, a first aid packet, and a K-Bar knife. Burned by the tropic sun, numbed by the loss of comrades, sure of his loyalty to the Corps and his platoon, scornful of the Japanese but wary of their suicidal tactics, he squints into the western sun and wonders what island awaits him.”

Semper Fidelis–The History of the U. S. Marine Corps
by Allan R. Millett